Born as Moran Cho and raised in San Francisco. Just 3 days after she was born, her father was deported because he failed to obtain a work permit - her mother was allowed to remain in San Francisco. "It was different than any other place on Earth," she says. "I grew up and went to grammar school on Haight Street during the '70s. There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the '60s, drag queens, and Chinese people. To say it was a melting pot - that's the least of it. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time."

But her mother was unable to provide for Margaret on her own, so she sent Margaret to Korea to live with her father and grandparents. Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Ignoring the traditions of her patriarchal culture, her mother bravely resisted an arranged marriage in Korea and married Margaret's father who writes joke books in Korean. "Books like 1001 Jokes for Public Speakers - real corny stuff," Cho says. "I guess we're in the same line of work. But we don't understand each other that way. I don't know why the things he says are funny and the same for him."

Back to the States, she got kicked out of Lowell High School Because she had an 0.6 GPA but later she was accepted to McAteer High School for the Performing Arts. Cho started performing stand-up at age 16 in a comedy club called The Rose & Thistle above a bookstore her parents ran. Soon after, she won a comedy contest where first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld.

She moved to Los Angeles in the early '90s and lived in a house with several other young performers. Gay icon and self-identified bisexual, she appears in several films. GLAAD awarded her its first annual Golden Gate prize for her contributions to sexual equality. Currently engaged to be married (to a man).

Source: Biography by Gilbert Lee et alii

Website: http://www.margaretcho.net

Films: Angie (1994) Red Shoe Diaries 9: Hotline (1994) The Doom Generation (1995) It's My Party (1996) Sweethearts 1996) Face/Off (1997) Fakin' da Funk (1997) Pink as the Day She Was Born (1997) Ground Control (1998) Nobody Knows Anything (1998) The Rugrats Movie (1998) The Thin Pink Line (1998) Can't Stop Dancing (1999) The Tavern (1999) Spent (2000) I'm the One that I Want (2000) Notorious C.H.O. (2002)

TV: Attack of the 5 Ft. 2 Women (1994) All American Girl (1994) Out There in Hollywood (1995) "Life 360" (2001) Theatre: I'm the One that I Want (1999) Notorious C.H.O. (2002) CDs: Live in Houston I'm the One That I Want (2000) Notorious C.H.O. (2002) Book: I'm the One that I Want (2001)